“I pondered this a while, and then said:  ’Geoffrey, ye shall bring me hence away to the peopled parts, and on the way, or when we are come amongst the cities and the kingdoms, we will settle it whither I shall go.  See thou!  I were fain to be of the brotherhood of the Dry Tree; yet I deem it will scarce be that I shall go and dwell there straightway.’

“Therewith the old man seemed content; and indeed now that the first joy of our meeting, when his youth sprang up in him once more, was over, he found it hard to talk freely with me, and was downcast and shy before me, as if something had come betwixt us, which had made our lives cold to each other.

“So that day we left the House of the Sorceress, which I shall not see again, till I come there hand in hand with thee, beloved.  When we came to the peopled parts, Geoffrey and his sons brought me to the Land of Abundance, and I found it all as he had said to me:  and I took up my dwelling in the castle, and despised not those few folk of the land, but was kind to them:  but though they praised my gifts, and honoured me as the saints are honoured, and though they loved me, yet it was with fear, so that I had little part with them.  There I dwelt then; and the book which thou didst read there, part true and part false, and altogether of malice against me, I bought of a monk who came our way, and who at first was sore afeared when he found that he had come to my castle.  As to the halling of the Chamber of Dais, I have told thee before how my lord, the King’s Son, did do make it in memory of the wilderness wherein he found me, and the life of thralldom from which he brought me.  There I dwelt till nigh upon these days in peace and quiet:  not did I go to the Dry Tree for a long while, though many of them sought to me there at the Castle of Abundance; and, woe worth the while! there was oftenest but one end to their guesting, that of all gifts, they besought me but of one, which, alack!  I might not give them:  and that is the love that I have given to thee, beloved.—­And, oh! my fear, that it will weigh too light with thee, to win me pardon of thee for all that thou must needs pardon me, ere thou canst give me all thy love, that I long for so sorely.”

CHAPTER 9

They Go On Their Way Once More

“Look now,” she said, “I have held thee so long in talk, that the afternoon is waning; now is it time for us to be on the way again; not because I misdoubt me of thy foeman, but because I would take thee to a fairer dwelling of the desert, and one where I have erst abided; and moreover, there thou shalt not altogether die of hunger.  See, is it not as if I had thought to meet thee here?”

“Yea, in good sooth,” said he, “I wot that thou canst see the story of things before they fall.”

She laughed and said:  “But all this that hath befallen since I set out to meet thee at the Castle of Abundance I foresaw not, any more than I can foresee to-morrow.  Only I knew that we must needs pass by the place whereto I shall now lead thee, and I made provision there.  Lo! now the marvel slain:  and in such wise shall perish other marvels which have been told of me; yet not all.  Come now, let us to the way.”